Eating

Why You Get Sleepy After Eating

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  • Feeling sleepy after eating is common and can be attributed to factors like size and timing of the meal.
  • High-fat and high-carbohydrate foods have been found to increase perceived drowsiness after eating.
  • Overall health and sleep patterns can also contribute to feelings of fatigue after meals.
  • Eat mindfully and make nutritional choices to avoid post-meal tiredness.

Most people have felt their eyelids get heavy shortly after a large meal. Whether it be a holiday feast or a weekend brunch, you may wonder what exactly causes sleepiness after eating. Fortunately, post-meal tiredness, also called postprandial somnolence, may not be a cause for concern if it does not interfere with a person’s work, school, or social life.

However, in some cases, a post-lunch dip in energy can have consequences for workplace productivity and raise the risk of accidents Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source , including car crashes. In addition, excessive sleepiness is sometimes caused by an underlying health problem or sleep disorder.Whether drowsiness sets in after a meal can depend on multiple factors including when, how much, and what a person eats Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source . Learning more about postprandial sleepiness can make it easier to understand why people get tired after a meal, foods that may cause drowsiness, and ways to reduce sleepiness after eating.

What is Postprandial Somnolence?

Postprandial somnolence refers to a feeling of sleepiness after consuming food Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source . It is sometimes known as the post-lunch dip or referred to more informally as a “food coma.”

Researchers are not exactly sure why it is common for people to get sleepy after eating. Studies suggest that multiple factors Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source may influence energy levels after a meal, including fluctuations in certain cellular proteins Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source , hormones, blood flow, brain chemicals, inflammation, and the body’s internal clock.

A larger meal may be more likely to cause sleepiness, and the composition of a meal can have an impact as well. Research has found that meals that are high in fat, carbohydrates, or calories may increase sleepiness.

It can be challenging to identify any single cause of postprandial sleepiness. Instead, there are many potential reasons why drowsiness sets in after eating, and those reasons can change based on the person and their meal.

Which Foods Can Make You Sleepy?

More research is necessary to understand how different nutrients and foods affect instances of daytime sleepiness. Additionally, many studies about diet and sleep focus on nighttime sleep, which is distinct from a daytime energy dip. Nevertheless, some types of foods may be more likely to trigger sleepiness.

  • High-fat foods may be rich and heavy: Fat-laden foods can be difficult to digest, leading to increased likelihood of post-meal tiredness.  
  • High-carbohydrate meals can increase drowsiness: In addition to fat, some research has found that meals with large amounts of carbohydrates increase the perceived amount of postprandial fatigue.
  • Tryptophan triggers the brain’s sleep process: Tryptophan is an amino acid known to promote sleep Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source within the brain. Turkey contains high levels of tryptophan, so it is famously blamed for sleepiness after Thanksgiving dinner. Other foods with tryptophan include milk, bananas, oats, and chocolate. While tryptophan alone may not always cause sleepiness, its effects are enhanced when eaten with carbohydrates.
  • Tart cherries promote sleep: Small studies have found tart cherries Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source to be associated with improved nighttime sleep. Certain kinds of sour cherries contain tryptophan and melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate sleep, as well as other active ingredients that may promote sleep.
  • Nuts are rich in melatonin: Walnuts, pistachios, and other nuts have some of the highest melatonin levels Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source of plant foods. Given the effects of melatonin on sleep, eating a significant amount of nuts may induce a feeling of drowsiness.

While these foods may promote postprandial sleepiness, not everyone will experience fatigue after eating them since various factors influence how the body reacts to a meal.

What Else Causes Sleepiness?

Aside from the nutritional makeup of meals, other factors that may play a role in feeling sleepy after eating include a person’s meal timing, work schedule, overall health, exposure to daylight, and body composition. Post-meal drowsiness may also be a symptom of excessive daytime sleepiness, which can occur as a result of poor sleep at night from insomnia or another sleep issue.

Circadian Rhythm

Many aspects of sleep and wakefulness are regulated by circadian rhythms, internal processes dictated by the body’s internal clock. One of the body’s circadian rhythms, known as the sleep-wake cycle, can affect energy levels over the course of the day, which often involves a post-lunch dip that can cause sleepiness.

In addition, the propensity to fall asleep changes throughout the day. Most people experience the greatest sleepiness before bed but also have an increased desire to sleep near midday. This often occurs in the early afternoon, which is after many people eat lunch. Several factors can influence when and how much this dip in energy occurs, including whether someone tends to be a morning or evening person.

Disrupted Sleep at Night

Drowsiness after lunch may be exacerbated by generalized instances of excessive sleepiness throughout the day. This tendency to feel extremely tired or doze off at inappropriate times can have many causes, including a failure to get enough quality sleep at night.

Excessive daytime sleepiness can also be caused by sleep disorders like obstructive sleep apnea as well as medical conditions that interfere with nightly sleep.

Alcohol Consumption

Alcohol has a sleep-inducing effect Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source . As a result, consuming alcohol with a meal may make post-meal sluggishness more likely. Some research suggests that people who do not get enough sleep at night are more susceptible to drowsiness if they drink alcohol during the day.

Even though alcohol can make it easier to fall asleep, it worsens sleep quality and can make it less likely for sleep to be restorative.

Underlying Health Conditions

Feeling sleepy after a meal can be linked to certain health conditions that may cause fatigue after eating or throughout the day.

  • Unbalanced blood sugar levels can cause sleepiness: Diabetes is a condition marked by elevated blood sugar, referred to as hyperglycemia. Blood sugar rises after a meal, triggering hyperglycemia and fatigue. Postprandial hypoglycemia Trusted Source UpToDate More than 2 million healthcare providers around the world choose UpToDate to help make appropriate care decisions and drive better health outcomes. UpToDate delivers evidence-based clinical decision support that is clear, actionable, and rich with real-world insights. View Source , which is caused by low blood sugar levels, can trigger a range of symptoms, including weakness and drowsiness Trusted Source UpToDate More than 2 million healthcare providers around the world choose UpToDate to help make appropriate care decisions and drive better health outcomes. UpToDate delivers evidence-based clinical decision support that is clear, actionable, and rich with real-world insights. View Source .
  • Anemia exacerbates fatigue: Anemia is a condition where red blood cells fail to carry the necessary amount of oxygen through the body. Individuals with anemia frequently experience tiredness which may occur at various times, including after a meal.
  • Tiredness is a symptom of hypothyroidism: People with an underactive thyroid gland Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source are prone to have fatigue that can affect them at various points during the day.
  • Low blood pressure decreases energy levels: Postprandial hypotension Trusted Source UpToDate More than 2 million healthcare providers around the world choose UpToDate to help make appropriate care decisions and drive better health outcomes. UpToDate delivers evidence-based clinical decision support that is clear, actionable, and rich with real-world insights. View Source , or low blood pressure after a meal, affects people with certain health conditions and is more common in older adults. Fatigue is one potential symptom of this drop in blood pressure.
  • Certain medications can make you tired: Drowsiness is a side effect of some medications. Depending on when a person takes their medications, they may experience sleepiness after a meal.

Is It Normal To Be Sleepy After Eating?

Post-meal drowsiness is common and may be influenced by a person’s internal clock and physiological response to food. Extreme sleepiness that occurs several times a day or interferes with daily life could be an indication of sleep problems or another health condition. Anyone concerned about their post-meal sleepiness or general daytime alertness should speak with a medical professional for individualized guidance.

What Are Ways To Prevent Sleepiness After Eating?

Although there is no guaranteed way to prevent postprandial sleepiness, there are some practical steps that may help people stay awake and alert after meals.

Eat Mindfully

Being aware of both the quantity and nutritional composition of a meal may help avoid postprandial sleepiness. While dietary needs and responses to food can vary from person to person, it may help to avoid large and heavy meals that can increase the urge to doze off after eating.

Individuals can take note of any foods or types of meals, such as high-fat or high-carb meals, that seem to have the biggest effect on their postprandial sleepiness. Identifying these patterns and choosing foods accordingly can be effective in preventing postprandial somnolence. Being mindful about alcohol consumption may also help prevent dips in alertness after meals.

Take a Quick Nap

Another strategy for managing the post-lunch dip is to take a quick nap. Several studies have found that people who take naps of 15 to 45 minutes shortly after a meal feel less sleepy and more alert after waking. However, it is important not to nap for too long because longer naps are linked to greater sleepiness.

Seek Out Bright Light

Taking a nap after a meal may not always be an option, especially for students and people at work. In that case, seeking out bright light may be a good alternative. Exposure to bright light may have a similar effect as a nap on postprandial sleepiness with the ability to improve alertness.

Improve Nightly Sleep

Getting sufficient sleep at night can reduce excessive daytime sleepiness, which may translate to less drowsiness after a meal.

Improving sleep often starts by developing better sleep hygiene, which refers to habits that affect nightly rest. Having a steady sleep schedule, making the bedroom dark, quiet, and comfortable, and limiting caffeine intake late in the day are examples of steps to enhance sleep hygiene.

Avoid Eating Too Late at Night

While sleepiness after a meal is often associated with lunch, it can also occur after dinner, especially when it is eaten late in the evening.

Some people may be inclined to have a late dinner, but research suggests that eating shortly before bed Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source can disrupt healthy sleep patterns. A late dinner has also been associated with a higher risk of health problems like obesity and metabolic syndrome Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source .

Get Active

Post-meal sleepiness may be related to general daytime fatigue. Some research has found that regular exercise can reduce fatigue. It is always wise to consult with a health care provider before beginning a new exercise plan, but finding a way to get regular physical activity may improve energy levels.

Stay Hydrated

Water intake is another factor that affects energy and fatigue. Both dehydration and hyperhydration can result in feelings of fatigue and tiredness Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source . Taking steps to stay properly hydrated may help the body maintain a more consistent level of alertness and energy, including after meals.

When You Should Talk to A Doctor

Postprandial sleepiness is common, but there are circumstances in which it may be linked to a more serious condition. People should talk with a doctor if they show signs of excessive or problematic sleepiness, such as:

  • Postprandial sleepiness that interferes with work, school, or social obligations
  • Drowsiness that occurs when driving or operating heavy machinery
  • Excessive tiredness or falling asleep at multiple points during the day
  • Postprandial sleepiness accompanied by other symptoms or health changes

Eating and Exercise Tips for Your 50s (Infographic)

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Good news: Today’s fifty-somethings have benefited from better nutrition, health care and quality of life. That said, experts advise men and women in their 50s to aim for a smaller belt size as an expansive one carries a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. You may weigh the same as you always did, but find that the fat on your body has relocated! Men and women in their 50s (particularly post-menopausal women) tend to gain weight in their waist or midriff area. They tend to lose muscle which is replaced with fat, which unfortunately burns less calories than muscle.

One recommendation to try to combat this: Try to eat 200 calories less per day than you did in your 40s.

You may still look great, but keep in mind that your body is slowing. Fortunately, by following the eating and exercise recommendations for your age group recommended in the infographic below, you can counteract most physical changes.

50s

 

Young teens’ weight terror ‘common’

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Scales
About 10% of 13-year-old girls are “terrified” about putting on weight, the first UK study looking for warning signs of eating disorders suggests.

Doctors said they were “worried” by the high degree of weight fixation found in 13-year-old girls, years before eating disorders typically start.

Researchers say it might be possible to stop full eating disorders developing.

Their findings, in the Journal of Adolescent Health, came from interviews with the parents of 7,082 13-year-olds.

Eating disorders, such as anorexia, tend to start in the mid-teenage years, although they can begin before then.

“Start Quote

For me the results were particularly worrying”

Dr Nadia Micali

The study, by University College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, looked at the years before those disorders tend to start.

Interviews with the parents of 7,082 13-year-old schoolchildren showed:

  • Nearly 12% of girls and 5% of boys were “terrified” by the thought of getting fat
  • 52% of girls and a third of boys said they were “a little worried” about getting fat
  • One in three girls and one in five boys were “distressed” by their body shape
  • 26% of girls and 15% of boys had “eating disorder behaviours” such as fasting
  • Some habits, such as uncontrolled bingeing, were linked to higher weight two years later

One of the researchers, Dr Nadia Micali, told the BBC she was surprised children were so concerned about weight at such a young age.

“For me the results were particularly worrying, I wouldn’t have thought they’d be so common at this age.

“Part of me thinks it’s a shame we didn’t ask earlier, we don’t know when this behaviour starts.

“Quite a large proportion will develop full-blown eating disorders, maybe more than half.”

However, she said there might be an opportunity to help children before they develop an eating disorder if a reliable set of warning signs could be developed for parents and teachers.

In a statement the eating disorder charity Beat said it was an interesting and important study.

“This is the first time a study like this has been carried out so we have nothing to compare it to and therefore don’t know if the problem is increasing or getting worse.

“However it is striking and worrying how many young people had concerns about their weight from such a young age.

“It does not mean that they will all go on to develop eating disorders, but they could be tempted by unhealthy ways to control their weight and shape.”

The findings came through data collected from the Children of the 90s study.

Bullying

A separate analysis of those children, by a team at the University of Warwick, suggested bullying was linked to an increased risk of psychotic experiences, such as hearing voices, and paranoia.

Lead researcher Prof Dieter Wolke said: “We want to eradicate the myth that bullying at a young age could be viewed as a harmless rite of passage that everyone goes through – it casts a long shadow over a person’s life and can have serious consequences for mental health.

“It strengthens on the evidence base that reducing bullying in childhood could substantially reduce mental health problems.

“The benefit to society would be huge, but of course, the greatest benefit would be to the individual.”

Sensors used to monitor obesity

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Hi-tech sensors aim to help prevent obesity

Overweight man and woman
Obesity causes 2.8 million deaths around the world each year

A range of hi-tech sensors that can measure food intake and activity in order to assess obesity risks is to be funded by the European Union.

Dubbed Splendid, the project aims to persuade youngsters to adopt healthier lifestyles and be more aware of their eating and exercise habits.

It is part of a push to use technology to create preventative healthcare.

Obesity causes an estimated 2.8 million deaths among adults around the world every year.

“The idea is that we try to investigate ways to prevent obesity and eating disorders,” said Prof Anastasios Delopoulos, the project co-ordinator who works for the department of electrical and computer engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece.

The system will be tested on around 200 secondary school students in Sweden and another set of children in the Netherlands.

A mandometer
One of the sensors will monitor how quickly people eat

Sensors will be used to measure the speed at which food is eaten as well as how food is chewed.

The time taken to consume food is one of the risk factors in obesity, according to Prof Delopoulos.

It will be measured using a mandometer, from Swedish firm AB Mando, which is currently used in a handful of clinics set up to treat eating disorders.

The sensor comprises a scale connected to a portable computer or a smartphone. A plate of food is put on the scale and the rate at which it leaves the plate is recorded, with an audible warning if it is being eaten too quickly for the person to realise they are full.

Swiss firm CSEM is developing the other two sensors that will be used in the project. ActiSmile is a wearable sensor, which rewards the wearer with a smiley face when enough exercise has been done.

The firm is also designing an acoustic sensor, which will take the form of a wearable microphone, and record how the user chews food.

Users will also input their own data, including how full they feel after a meal as well as daily intake and activity logs.

All the data will be processed and run through algorithms which will assess the risks for obesity and eating disorders.

In the later stages of the trial, the system will be used to help change the way at-risk youngsters eat and exercise.

“The goal is to modify eating and activity behaviour of individuals in a personalised way,” said Prof Delopoulos.

“A medical expert will assign goals, such as to eat more slowly or adopt more activity and the sensors will monitor whether the individual succeeds,” he added.

Daniel Kraft is a doctor and executive director of FutureMed, a healthcare education programme aimed at teaching medical professionals about new technologies.

He thinks that sensors will increasingly be integrated into healthcare.

“From connected scales to sensors that can track heart rate and activity levels… the patient can be empowered to understand their healthcare data,” he said.

“It brings you to an era of healthcare rather than sick care,” he added.

Eat More, Weigh Less: Worm Study Provides Clues to Better Fat-Loss Therapies for Humans

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered key details of a brain-to-body signaling circuit that enables roundworms to lose weight independently of food intake. The weight-loss circuit is activated by combined signals from the worm versions of the neurotransmitters serotonin and adrenaline, and there are reasons to suspect that it exists in a similar form in humans and other mammals.

“Boosting serotonin signaling has been seen as a viable strategy for weight loss in people, but our results hint that boosting serotonin plus adrenaline should produce more potent effects—and there is already some evidence that that’s the case,” said TSRI Assistant Professor Supriya Srinivasan, who was principal investigator for the study, published online before print on October 10, 2013 by the journal Cell Metabolism.

Serotonin signaling, which can be increased artificially by some diet and antidepressant drugs, has long been known to reduce weight. Until recently, scientists assumed that it does so largely by suppressing appetite and food intake. However, Srinivasan reported in 2008—while she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco—that serotonin changes food intake and fat levels via separate signaling pathways. “We could make the animals we studied lose fat even as they ate more,” she said. Her experiments were conducted on C. elegansroundworms, whose short lifespans and well-characterized nervous systems make them a preferred species for quick-turnaround lab studies. Indeed, other researchers soon found that serotonin’s food-intake-suppressing and weight-loss effects are separable in mammals, too.

Now with her own laboratory at TSRI, Srinivasan has been examining the C. elegans weight loss circuitry in more detail. In the new study, Srinivasan and her colleagues, first author Research Assistant Tallie Noble and graduate student Jonathan Stieglitz, used a series of gene-blocking experiments to identify some of the circuit’s key elements.

Their most surprising discovery was that serotonin isn’t the sole driver of this weight-loss pathway, but works in concert with another neurotransmitter, octopamine—the C. elegans version of adrenaline (also called epinephrine) in mammals. “That was a very interesting finding, especially since other studies suggest that these two neurotransmitters tend to oppose each other’s functions,” said Noble.

The team mapped out a self-reinforcing network of serotonin and octopamine-producing neurons in the worms that send the lose-weight signal to the body. This network includes a set of serotonin-sensitive neurons known as URX neurons, which have access to the worm circulatory system and apparently release a still-to-be-identified signaling molecule. The downstream result of this signal, the researchers found, is a boost in the production of a key enzyme in the worm intestine. The enzyme, known as adipocyte triglyceride lipase 1 (ATGL-1), literally cuts fat molecules in a way that leads to their further metabolic breakdown. ATGL-1 also has a very similar counterpart in mammals.

Srinivasan and her colleagues plan in future work to identify the long-range molecular signal that boosts ATGL-1 production and to better delineate the serotonin-octopamine network that produces the signal. Eventually, they would like to map out the corresponding fat-loss network in a closer evolutionary relative of humans, such as the mouse.

However, Srinivasan noted that the human experience with weight-loss drugs already hints that mammals may have such a fat-loss circuit. Serotonin-plus-adrenaline boosting therapies, the most prominent of which was fenfluramine-phentermine (“fen-phen”), have tended to do better at cutting weight than serotonin-boosting therapies alone. Unfortunately, the serotonin-boosting elements of these compounds have often been blamed for cardiovascular side effects—fenfluramine, for example, was banned by the FDA in 1997—but in principle, future combination therapies could be designed to avoid producing such side effects.

“We wonder if boosting not just serotonin but serotonin plus a little bit of adrenaline is the real key to more potent weight loss,” Srinivasan said.

Veggie-Heavy Stress Reduction Regimen Shown to Modify Cell Aging

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Story at-a-glance

  • New research showed that eating a diet rich in vegetables while exercising and managing stress may modify cell aging and potentially help you live longer
  • Choosing a diet that encourages proper levels of leptin and insulin in your body, and thereby proper genetic expression, is likely the most powerful anti-aging diet there is
  • For most people, avoiding sugar, fructose, grains and processed foods while eating low-to-moderate protein and as much high-quality healthful fat as you want (saturated and monounsaturated) will optimize your general health and longevity
  • Exercise and regular stress reduction round out a simple anti-aging lifestyle plan.

Stress ManagementStress Management

The last time you went to your physician, did he or she ask you about your diet, your exercise habits or your methods of stress reduction? These should be a key point of discussion, as research continues to pour in about their importance to human health, disease prevention and increased lifespan.

Recently, a small study published in the Lancet once again confirmed that eating a diet rich in vegetables while exercising and managing stress may modify cell aging and potentially help you live longer.1

It’s not rocket science… the old adage ‘you are what you eat’ really is true, and combined with other healthy lifestyle factors is the best ‘fountain of youth’ currently known to humankind.

A Healthy Lifestyle Is Your Ticket to a Long Life

You’ve certainly heard about the importance of a healthy lifestyle before, but it deserves repeating because it truly is the closest thing to a magic ‘pill’ for life extension that you can find. In the latest study, men followed a healthy lifestyle, which consisted of:

  1. Eating a mostly whole-food, vegetable-rich diet (with few refined carbohydrates)
  2. Walking for 30 minutes six days a week
  3. 60 minutes of daily stress management (mostly yoga and meditation)
  4. A 60-minute support group session once a week

After five years, men in the healthy lifestyle group had an increase in telomere (the ends of your chromosomes) length compared to the control group. It has been suggested, not without controversy, that increasing telomere length slows down or even reverses aging.

However, it may be possible that the modifications in cell aging being attributed to telomere length increases may actually be a byproduct of healthy genetic expression gained by eating a whole-food, low-sugar diet.

Dr. Ron Rosedale Explains Telomere Science…

Dr. Ron Rosedale, M.D. is widely considered to be one of the leading anti-aging doctors in the US, and as such is highly qualified to discuss the complex issues behind using telomere length as an indicator of lifespan. There are numerous problems with the theory, including that fewer than 1 percent of people have the telomerase enzyme necessary to increase their chromosome’s telomere length.

Further, many cells, such as liver and kidney cells can’t lengthen telomeres, while cancer cells can increase telomere length. As Dr. Rosedale said:2

“The fact that telomeres shorten may actually allow us to live longer, as it may reduce the risk of cancer. The good news is that the telomeres in almost all the cells other than WBCs and stem cells do not increase, for if they did, dying of cancer would be all but certain.”

It may very well be that controlling telomere length specific to different diseases and cells may be a powerful way to improve health. But right now, we just don’t know enough about it to be certain. And it might be that the association between increased lifespan and telomere length is simply a correlation, not a cause. Dr. Rosedale explained:

“A major mistake made so frequently in medicine… is the confusion and interchange between correlation and cause. An example is the consistent reference to cholesterol being a cause of heart disease, when in fact it is an association, and even a weak one at that.

…Getting wrinkles is far more correlated, and is therefore a far better biomarker for aging than telomere length, however undergoing a dermabrasion is not likely to extend lifespan. Once again, it is science 101 to not confuse correlation with cause.

It could very well be, and in fact is likely, that reduced telomere length is a byproduct of the cell damage and turnover associated with aging, rather than a prime cause of it, though it likely does have some adverse repercussions especially to the immune system and possibly stem cells.”

How the Foods You Eat Impact Your Lifespan

So what does all of this mean for you, and, importantly, what does it have to do with the foods you choose to eat? Choosing a diet that encourages proper level of leptin and insulin in your body, and thereby proper genetic expression, is likely the most powerful anti-aging diet there is – and may also be involved, or at the very least associated, with the length of your telomeres, although this is only beginning to be explored. Dr. Rosedale continued:

“Life is dependent on the coordination of its constituent parts. This is especially true pertaining to the length of telomeres of the various cells and organs to maintain health but prevent a high risk of cancer.

…we are 15 trillion cells and 90 trillion bacteria that must work harmoniously as one for us to be healthy and remain alive. This requires an intricate orchestration of communication between the different parts. 

That includes the genes, telomeres, and telomerase. It is where, when, and how much they are played, like the keys of a piano playing an infinite variety of music from the same keys, that determine who we are, diabetic or not, and if we stay alive or die.

What we do want to do is slow down the reduction in the length of our telomeres in an organ and tissue-specific manner that can be orchestrated only through proper genetic expression. Leptin and insulin are among the most, if not the most powerful influences of this. And these in turn are controlled by what you eat.”

Insulin and Leptin Resistance: How These Disease-Causing States Happen

Leptin is a hormone that plays a key role in regulating your energy intake and energy expenditure. It may be one of the most important hormones in your body as it can determine your health and lifespan. Insulin is another, and  work in tandem with leptin. Both insulin and leptin resistance are associated with obesity, and impairment of their ability to transfer the information to receptors is the true foundational core of most all chronic degenerative diseases.

Your fat, by way of leptin, tells your brain whether you should be hungry, eat and make more fat, whether you should reproduce, or (partly by controlling insulin) whether to engage in maintenance and repair. In short, leptin is the way that your fat stores speak to your brain to let your brain know how much energy is available and, very importantly, what to do with it.

Therefore, leptin may be on top of the food chain in metabolic importance and relevance to disease. You become leptin-resistant by the same general mechanism that you become insulin-resistant – by continuous overexposure to high levels of the hormone. This happens when you eat a diet that is high in sugar (particularly fructose), grains, and processed foods. The same type of diet that will also increase inflammation in your body – as the sugar gets metabolized in your fat cells, the fat releases surges in leptin.

Over time, if your leptin receptors are exposed to excessive leptin, they will develop resistance, just as your insulin receptors can develop resistance to insulin. The best way to reestablish proper leptin (and insulin) signaling is to prevent those surges, and the only known way to do that is via diet. As such, diet can have a more profound effect on your health than any other known modality of medical treatment.

Eat This Way to Maximize Your Healthy Lifespan Potential

A strategic whole food diet, as detailed in my free nutrition plan, that emphasizes good fats and avoids blood sugar spikes coupled with targeted supplements will enhance insulin and leptin sensitivity so that your brain can once again hear the feedback signals from these hormones. The vegetable-rich, low-refined-carbs diet described in the featured study likely also played a role in enhancing the study participants’ insulin and leptin sensitivity (although this wasn’t measured), and perhaps this was involved in the changes in telomere length, as Dr. Rosedale’s theory seems to support. To reverse insulin and leptin resistance:

  • Avoid sugar, fructose, grains and processed foods
  • Eat a healthful diet of whole foods, ideally organic, and replace the grain carbs with:
    • No-to-low sugar and grain carbs
    • Low-to-moderate amount of protein
    • As much high-quality healthful fat as you want (saturated and monounsaturated). Most people need upwards of50-70 percent fats in their diet for optimal health. Good sources include coconut and coconut oil, avocados, butter, nuts, and animal fats. Also take a high-quality source of animal-based omega-3 fat, such as krill oil.

Remember Exercise and Stress Management, Too

Remember, about 80 percent of the health benefits you reap from a healthy lifestyle comes from your diet, and the remaining 20 percent from exercise – but it’s a very important 20 percent, as it acts in tandem with and boosts the benefits derived from a proper diet. Exercise is also one of the fastest and most powerful ways to lower your insulin and leptin resistance. For maximum benefits, you’ll want to make sure to include high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which has been found to help slow down aging.

Of course, the connections between stress and physical health are undeniable, as well, with chronic stress linked to lowered immune system function, heightened inflammatory response, altered hormonal balance and more. Energy psychology techniques such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) can be very effective by helping you to actuallyreprogram your body’s reactions to the unavoidable stressors of everyday life.

Exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and meditation are also important “release valves” that can help you manage your stress. Together with a healthful diet and exercise, stress management makes up the ‘third Musketeer’ that is essential to leading a long, vital life.

A Map of the Road to Obesity.

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In every age group, obese adults consumed the highest percentage of calories from fast food, a vivid picture of the role fast food plays in obesity. From 1990 to 2010, there was a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States, the fattest country in the world. The report’s overall finding, that we are eating a little less fast food than we used to, may be behind the recent finding that obesity rates have stopped rising for the first time in years.

People aged 20 to 39 consumed more than 15 percent of daily calories from fast food; however, the percentage tended to decrease with age.

According to the latest statistics, nearly 36 percent of U.S. adults are obese. Although the consumption of fast food appears to be slowing a bit, the correlation shown in this report between heavier weight and the amount of fast food eaten is a concern.

Those who eat the most fast food, according to the report, are people in their 20s and 30s. This puts them at risk for obesity-related medical problems later in life. Some of the leading causes of preventable death are obesity-related conditions such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer. The lower rate of fast food consumption among those 60 and up may be due to the fact that those medical problems have begun to show up.

This is not clear from the evidence, however. Putting a dent in our consumption of burgers, fries, and sugar-sweetened soda just can’t be bad. And in fact, it may be the beginning of something very good.

The report is published in the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief.

 

Singing Happy Birthday Makes Cake Taste Better.

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Story at-a-glance

  • Performing a simple ritual before eating makes the food more enjoyable – and it works whether the food is chocolate or carrots
  • Rituals may enhance enjoyment because they force you to become more involved in the experience at hand
  • Being mindful when you eat forces you to slow down and makes you feel more connected and involved in your eating experience
  • Rituals can be useful in other areas of your life too, such as before bedtime or helping you to de-stress after work

If you want to make your food taste better, and more thoroughly enjoy the experience of a meal, it may be as simple as performing a ritual first, according to new research from the University of Minnesota.

Singing ‘Happy Birthday’ before eating birthday cake is one example, but the beauty of this finding is that it works for healthy food too, giving simple strategies you can implement today to get more enjoyment out of your food.

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Ritualistic Behavior Enhances the Enjoyment of Eating, Improves Flavors of Food

If you’ve ever wolfed down a meal while working, driving or engaging in another task, you probably didn’t feel too satisfied afterward, and this is partly because you didn’t take the time to sit and savor your food.

Along these lines, researchers conducted a series of experiments to test whether performing a simple ritual before eating makes the food more enjoyable, and in each case, the answer was ‘yes.’

  • Participants who broke an unwrapped piece of chocolate in half and ate one half before unwrapping and eating the other half rated the chocolate more highly, savored it more, and were willing to pay more for it than those who ate it however they wanted
  • Those who waited to eat carrots after performing a small ritual enjoyed them more than those who had no delay
  • Simply watching someone perform a ritual, such as making lemonade, was not effective at improving its taste, which suggests personal involvement in the ritual process is key

How You Can Harness the Power of Rituals

The researchers concluded that rituals may have such an impact because they force you to become more involved in the experience at hand:

“Rituals enhance the enjoyment of consumption because of the greater involvement in the experience that they prompt.”

Rather than simply eating a bar of chocolate, for instance, stopping to feel the texture in your hands, breaking it into smaller pieces and waiting to savor each bite slowly is likely to enhance your enjoyment, even allowing you to feel moresatisfied by eating less chocolate.

Of course, this should work for other foods, too, like a bowl of steamed broccoli or a handful of nuts or berries. It’s not so much the food that matters, it’s the ritual beforehand. So you could try shaking the nuts in your hand before eating them, or placing your berries in an attractive dish first to make them taste even better.

This might also mean that as you take steps to prepare your food, such as makinghomemade fermented vegetables, the preparation ‘ritual’ will enhance your enjoyment of them, providing extra incentive to spend more time in the kitchen (a major benefit for your health!).

This also helps explain why certain foods seem to taste so much better at certain times of the year, such as on Thanksgiving or other holidays that involve long-held traditions. This can backfire, too, though, if you’ve become accustomed to watching TV while you snack on chips, for instance. In this case, breaking the ritual may help you to break your reliance on an unhealthy food.

Giving Thanks Before Eating

One of the most rewarding rituals you can do before a meal is to stop and give thanks for your food. Not only might this make your food taste better, but also people who are thankful for what they have are better able to cope with stress, have more positive emotions, and are better able to reach their goals.

People who give thanks before they eat also tend to eat more slowly and savor the meal more so than those who do not, lending a natural transition to mindful eating, as described below.

It can bring your family together too, and it’s even been shown by visionary researcher Dr. Masaru Emoto that human thoughts and emotions can alter the molecular structure of water, with positive emotions, such as gratitude, leading tobeautiful crystalline structures within the water. Your food, of course, contains water, so giving thanks before you eat may actually be able to transform your food in beneficial ways that are only beginning to be understood.

Being Mindful When You Eat

Practicing “mindfulness” means that you’re actively paying attention to the moment you’re in right now. In terms of eating, this means you’re focused on your food and you’re really taking the time to chew, taste and savor each bite that goes into your mouth. Mindless eating would be the opposite. Similar to engaging in a ritual beforehand, being mindful when you eat forces you to slow down and makes you feel more connected and involved in your eating experience. There are other ‘side effects’ too, as when you eat slower you give your brain time to register that you’re full, so you’ll likely eat less.

Taking the time to thoroughly chew your food also allows you to absorb more nutrients from your food, helps you maintain a healthy weight, allows for easier digestion, and leads to fewer digestive issues like gas and bloating, all while allowing you to actually taste your food before you swallow… a novel concept if you’re used to eating on the run.

Using Rituals to Establish Healthier Habits

Rituals can be extremely powerful in all facets of your life, especially if you use them to help create healthful habits. For instance, if you want to start getting to bed earlier, washing your face and brushing your teeth can be the ritual you use to trigger your earlier bedtime. Another example would be to spend time journaling, meditating, sipping herbal tea or even changing into loungewear when you come home from work as a ‘ritual’ to de-stress from your day and switch gears into relaxation mode.

Getting back to eating, a simple ritual like lighting a candle or two and setting your table can signal to your family that it’s time for a meal together. Saying grace or giving thanks before you eat, as mentioned, is another ritualistic way to enhance the enjoyment as you eat.

The opportunities to harness the power of rituals are truly endless, and only you can determine which rituals will be the most meaningful and productive in your own life. Chances are you have quite a few rituals already, and taking a few moments to create more is a simple way to live better.

 

Why You Should Eat Breakfast and the Best Times for the Rest of the Day’s Meals.

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Keeping track of what you’re supposed to eat to stay healthy can already be overwhelming, but it turns out that when you eat what can also be important for keeping your weight in control and for warding off chronic disease.

It turns out Mom was right: you should eat breakfast. And if you don’t believe Mom, a growing body of studies shows that a good meal in the morning can help your body prepare for the day to come, and lower your risk of heart disease, diabetesand obesity. But what about the rest of the day’s meals? Here’s what nutrition experts say about the best times to eat and why.

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Morning
Don’t skip breakfast. Reporting in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, Harvard School of Public Health researchers studied the health outcomes of 26,902 male health professionals ages 45 to 82 over a 16-year period. They discovered that the men who skipped breakfast had a 27% higher risk of heart attack or death from heart disease than those who honored the morning meal. According to the scientists, skipping breakfast may make you hungrier and more likely to eat larger meals, which leads to a surge in blood sugar. Such spikes can pave the way for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, all risk factors that can snowball into a heart attack.

Pass on the pastry. Eating in the morning — and what you eat — is important for setting your blood-sugar pattern for the rest of the day. “If you eat something that is whole grain and has some fat and protein to it, your blood sugar is going to rise slowly and go down slowly. If you eat something refined, like an overly sweet cinnamon roll, that’s the worst thing you can eat,” says Judy Caplan, a registered dietitian nutritionist for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “You get an insulin [spike], and [then] your blood sugar drops too low so you get hungry again. That’s why people get into a cycle of overeating junk.”

To ease your body into a more consistent blood-sugar pattern, try some oatmeal, whole-wheat toast with almond butter, or an omelette with spinach and avocado. Caplan’s favorite breakfast is a baked sweet potato with a little bit of cinnamon and a small bit of butter. Who says you have to eat just cereal in the morning?

Afternoon
Fuel up at the right time. In the 1960s, nutritionist Adelle Davis popularized the mantra “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.” Why? Fueling up makes sense earlier in the day, when your body needs the most calories for energy. That’s why in many European countries, the largest meal of the day occurs in the afternoon. “Ideally, you want to give yourself fuel before you do harder labor,” says Caplan.

If you’re used to eating a smaller meal for lunch and a larger meal later, you can still fill up with a hearty meal that has significantly fewer calories. “A fairly large meal [that] is full of salad and vegetables [is] big in volume but light in calories,” says Caplan.

Evening
Don’t overdo it. Calories get burned up no matter when you eat them, so theoretically it’s O.K. to eat after dark. But if you eat a heavy dinner, you’re not as likely to get rid of those calories before you turn in. “What you don’t burn off is more likely to be stored as fat, as you become less active toward the end of the day,” says Tracy Lockwood, a registered dietitian at F-Factor Nutrition. “Eating too close to bedtime increases your blood sugar and insulin, which causes you to have a hard time falling asleep. Therefore, your last meal should be the lightest of the day and should be eaten at least three hours before you go to sleep.”

There’s another reason that late-night eating, after dinner, isn’t a good idea. In most cases, those visits to the fridge involve sweet treats such as ice cream and other desserts that can send blood sugar soaring right before bed. That can lower levels of the hormone melatonin, which is supposed to help you feel tired and relaxed, so waning levels can make it harder to fall asleep. “A boost of energy coming from your dinner, which may have consisted of pasta, rice or bread, can act as a short-lived stimulant, causing you to feel more awake immediately after a meal,” says Lockwood. “Also, it is not recommended to lie down immediately after a meal, especially a big one, since it increases your chance for acid reflux.”

Keep it light. “If you go to Europe and places where there is not as much obesity as the rest of the world, people eat very late and they’re not necessarily overweight. That’s because they are walking everywhere and they are typically not eating a huge and heavy meal,” says Caplan. “Instead, it may be avocado and toast with a side of soup.”

Source: http://healthland.time.com

 

 

 

Interlinks between sleep and metabolism.

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sleep

Lack of sleep is increasingly associated with weight gain and metabolic problems. Interfaces between the pathways that regulate circadian timing and metabolism might underlie these adverse health effects. Jill Jouret reports.

Getting a good night’s sleep is a basic, but often eluded, prescription for good health. Modern lifestyles provide opportunities for 24 h activity, and minimising sleep is often thought to be a harmless, efficient, or merely necessary means to accommodate schedules. However, feeling tired at night is more than an instruction to rest. Behaviour and physiology are intricately linked to light and dark cycles, and an internal timing mechanism has evolved to ensure that physiological processes occur at optimum times in a 24 h cycle. Maintaining the synchrony of this endogenous circadian clock seems to have wide-ranging health implications.

Although the mechanisms are not fully clear, evidence is mounting that insufficient sleep and disruption in circadian rhythms contribute to pathogenesis of metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Worldwide, metabolic syndrome is on the rise, as is the introduction of artificial light and activity into night-time hours. Epidemiological and clinical studies have shown that short-duration and poor-quality sleep predict development of type 2 diabetes and obesity, suggesting that sleep, circadian rhythms, and metabolic systems are interconnected.

In mammals, circadian rhythms are generated centrally by the suprachiasmatic nuclei in the anterior hypothalamus. Light perception by the retina synchronises these single-celled oscillators, generating rhythmic outputs that regulate sleep and wakefulness, feeding and energy expenditure, and glucose homoeostasis. This central clock also sends signals via direct innervation and humoral factors to clock components in peripheral tissues, thus maintaining the circadian timing of an array of physiological processes. Transcription—translation feedback loops implicating specific clock genes lead to a roughly 24 h cycle.

Molecular links between circadian and metabolic pathways have been identified and many hormones implicated in metabolism and energy balance exhibit circadian oscillation—eg, expression and secretion of leptin, a hormone that signals satiety, peaks at night. The complex signalling systems that govern glucose homoeostasis and metabolism of fatty acids, cholesterol, bile acids, and toxins receive inputs from the local and central circadian clocks, allowing cells to anticipate metabolic reactions in a 24 h period. In-vitro studies show that metabolic cues can be transmitted to core components of the circadian clock. Such crosstalk suggests a mechanism by which eating (and possibly sleeping) patterns could shift innate circadian timing.

A study published in March, 2013, by a group at the University of Surrey (Guildford, UK) highlighted the interconnection between sleep, circadian rhythmicity, and metabolism. Whole-blood RNA samples were taken from participants after a week of restricted nightly sleep (5·7 h) and also after a week of adequate sleep (8·5 h). Transcriptome analysis showed that 711 genes were upregulated or downregulated by insufficient sleep, including genes associated with circadian rhythms and metabolism.

Sleep restriction also reduced the total number of genes with circadian expression profiles, implying that even a week of poor sleep can disrupt the body’s intricate physiological timing.

Melatonin, a key regulator of sleep, could be an important link connecting circadian timing and insulin signalling. Melatonin production is suppressed by light, and peaks around 3—5 h after sleep onset; it regulates the sleep—wake cycle by lowering body temperature and causing drowsiness, and also inhibits insulin secretion by pancreatic β cells. A 2013 case-control studywithin the Nurses’ Health Study cohort showed that, compared with women in the highest category of melatonin secretion, women in the lowest category had about a twice the risk of developing type 2 diabetes (after controlling for demographic, lifestyle, and other risk factors). Previous studies have shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms of the melatonin receptor are also associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

More clinical research is needed to characterise this association between sleep, melatonin concentrations, and type 2 diabetes, and to elucidate, for example, whether melatonin supplementation has a role in treatment. Irregular and extended working hours are a reality for many industries, and epidemiological studies have shown lower melatonin concentrations in night-shift workers than in day-shift workers and an increasing risk of type 2 diabetes with number of years of shift work. For this substantial proportion of the workforce, more solutions are needed to prevent people from falling into economically driven health traps.

Insufficient sleep is a risk factor for weight gain and obesity, in addition to type 2 diabetes, and understanding the underlying mechanisms could help to guide novel weight-loss strategies. A study published on April 2, 2013, showed that eating behaviours, particularly night-time eating, contributed to weight gain during sleep loss. Whole-room calorimetry measured daily energy expenditure in adults undergoing 5-day cycles of inadequate (5 h) or adequate (9 h) nightly sleep. Energy expenditure was about 5% higher with insufficient sleep, but increased food intake more than compensated for this energetic cost. In the sleep-loss condition, participants ate a smaller breakfast but consumed 42% more calories as after-dinner snacks, leading to weight gain. The study investigators suggested that participants’ eating patterns during sleep loss resulted from a delayed circadian phase—ie, a later onset of melatonin secretion at night, assessed by hourly blood samples from an intravenous catheter—which might have led to a circadian drive for more food intake. Furthermore, the time between waking and melatonin offset was longer in the 5 h sleep condition; thus, participants awoke during an earlier circadian phase (while still in biological night) and might have been less hungry for breakfast. Previous studies have suggested that disrupted signalling of satiety and hunger hormones leads to the overeating associated with insufficient sleep; however, in both the 5 h and 9 h conditions, excessive food intake was accompanied by appropriate increases in the satiety hormones leptin and peptide YY and decreases in ghrelin, which stimulates hunger.

Future studies should examine how sleep deprivation leads to delays in circadian phase and how circadian timing of meals affects energy metabolism. For the millions of people whose working week necessitates a disrupted sleep schedule, a physiological drive for more food intake, the availability of high-calorie foods, and exhaustion leading to less physical activity overall could be a potent formula for weight gain.

Whether for work, play, or travel, voluntary sleep curtailment has become endemic; however, restricted sleep seems to interfere with the crosstalk between complex physiological and circadian networks that have evolved to couple our bodily functions with the Earth’s 24 h rotation. Many more issues deserve investigation, such as the differential effects on health of acute versus chronic sleep deprivation, and how light exposure mediates the effects of sleep loss. As more evidence emerges of the circadian orchestration of metabolism, perhaps the time has come for sleep to figure more prominently in treatment and public health guidelines.

Source: Lancet